'Dump' areas and the 11

[Mike K]

Best stop on the 9 for Portland Road - Hagley Road, Portland Road - Outside the Chef & Brewer and the Strathallan Hotel.

Given that Portland Road is a major junction, the 9 does the occasional (untimetabled) short working that finishes there, and the PN operated 829 uses Portland Road from St Paul's school, you'd expect a driver on the 9 to know it. As previously posted, one of the issues these days is that garages aren't local and can serve huge areas. When I was younger and garages like Cotteridge, Selly Oak and Harborne existed, drivers tended to live locally to these garages and knew the routes (which were much fewer in number) like the back of their hands. Unfortunately, that situation is long gone. A blind chap got on the 22 the other day and asked the driver if it went past Chad Road. The driver had no idea, saying he didn't normally drive that route - I had to tell the chap it did, and show him when to get off.

[Trident4590]

A quick question for bus drivers, how enjoyable do you find bus driving, I've asked a lot of non bus drivers and most of them have said its boring, I've also read a lot of complaints about management.

[2206]

Given that Portland Road is a major junction, the 9 does the occasional (untimetabled) short working that finishes there, and the PN operated 829 uses Portland Road from St Paul's school, you'd expect a driver on the 9 to know it. As previously posted, one of the issues these days is that garages aren't local and can serve huge areas. When I was younger and garages like Cotteridge, Selly Oak and Harborne existed, drivers tended to live locally to these garages and knew the routes (which were much fewer in number) like the back of their hands. Unfortunately, that situation is long gone. A blind chap got on the 22 the other day and asked the driver if it went past Chad Road. The driver had no idea, saying he didn't normally drive that route - I had to tell the chap it did, and show him when to get off.

The 829 isn't the only service they operate on Portland Road. The PN operated the 129 uses Portland Road as well @Mike K.